For Most, Visiting Cuba Still Difficult

TRAVELER'S ADVISORY

Q: I am a Holocaust child survivor who, in 1939 at age 5, left Berlin on the last ship allowing passengers to disembark at Havana, Cuba.

In 1941, I was fortunate to be able to come to the United States. The ordeals and trauma of those years caused complete memory erasure of them.

Now, in my senior years, I would like to try to reconstruct some of the past. That would mean returning to Cuba for a visit.

Is there any advice on this matter that you can supply?

A: You are the third Hartford-area person in as many months to ask for information about Cuba. The tiny island could become the hottest, non-sanctioned destination this year, despite -- or mabye because of -- stern warnings from the U.S. government, which continues to restrict travel there.

A page of the U.S. Department of State Web site is detailed about who can visit Cuba and how. There are a few people who can go to Cuba without obtaining a license from the U.S. government. They are foreign government officials traveling on official business, journalists, people visiting close relatives (no more than once a year) and people whose cases involve ``extreme humanitarian need.''

Everyone else needs a special license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and must fit into one of several categories, which include visiting ``close relatives, for telecommunication activities and for travel in connection with professional research and similar activities,'' according to information at travel.state.gov/cuba.html.

Other contacts include Marazul Tours, a New York City company that sponsors research tour packages to Cuba. Call (800) 223-5334.

A more common approach is leaving for Cuba from a country that allows travel there, such as Mexico or Canada. Many travel agencies in those countries will allow U.S. citizens on the tour and will provide documents so that Cuban authorities do not stamp your passport.

Consider Cuba Travel in Tijuana, Mexico, at (310) 842-4148 (also at http://www.cubatravel.com.mx) and Intra Kensington Travel in Ottawa, Canada at (403) 283-3383 (or http://www.intraken.ab.ca/cuba .html). Or seek out other travel agencies in Mexico or Canada via your own travel agent.

Q: I am planning a trip to Pennsylvania this October and would like to know where to get tourist information.

Home pages would be helpful, also.

A: Each of Pennsylvania's more than three dozen counties and tourism areas have their own telephone number, but the general number for state tourism is (800) 847-4872.

Hundreds of Web sites come up if you do a search with the key words ``Pennsylvania'' and ``tourism,'' but the state's site is www.state.pa.us/visit/index1.html

Ride By Rail Or RV?

Q: My wife and I have been thinking about traveling around the United States next April or May.

We have heard of taking the railroad to different places, but it seems to me to be somewhat inflexible.

I guess there are trips that you can get off the train, rent a car and look around and then get back on the train when you are ready?

I have thought of renting an RV with the idea in mind that we could ``camp'' some nights and then, when we felt like it, we could stay at a hotel/motel and still have the flexibility to go where we wanted to at our own pace.

We would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

A: Rush out and buy a recording of ``King of the Road'' and start planning your RV trip around the country. While a rail vacation is certainly relaxing, it does not give you the same flexibility as driving a recreational vehicle.

Information on renting an RV is available from the Recreational Vehicle Rental Association in Fairfax, Va. at (703) 591-7130 or visit http://www.rvamerica.com/rvra. RVRA offers a RV rental location directory for $10 that includes rental locations, telephone numbers, type and number of units available and price ranges. It also has information about one-way rentals, airport pick-up, free miles and more. Call (800) 972-1074, Ext. 3, to order the directory.

But just to make sure you are making an informed decision, check with Amtrak before you reserve your RV. This fall, it is offering a new flexible rail pass that also might be available in the spring.

Starting Oct. 16, the new Amtrak/VIA Rail Canada North American Rail Pass -- similar to the Eurail Pass -- offers up to 30 consecutive days of travel with unlimited stopovers along 28,000 miles of railway and up to 900 destinations in the United States and Canada for $450 through Dec. 31.